The Bad and the Good...

And then the bad again.

Tonight I had an encounter with boxed wine. It's been a while since I've tried that particular niche in the wine market. Back in my not so tame college days, I used to love the stuff. I'll spare the pictures, because I'm not holding back on this review. All I can say is that it came in a square box, maybe 12" x 12" and about 4" deep. There were three different brands fitting this description, and I have a feeling that it doesn't matter too much which one I picked.

(The Bad)
Sure, it tasted like old grape juice, but it did the trick. I mean, if you're going for boxed wine, you have a pretty specific plan in mind. Granted, you don't usually remember why you did it the next morning, but you have to assume that it worked. As I'm writing this, I cringe to imagine how I'm going to feel tomorrow at 7:30 after just having a few glasses of the stuff tonight.

(The Good)
I'll give it this, if you are trying to "drink a little too much", this stuff is great. It's cheap. I did the math, and one box is 6.5 bottles worth. I payed $12 for the box, so that's a mere $2 or so per bottle. Try to remember, have you ever seen a $2 bottle of wine in the store? I very much doubt it. This is probably explained by the rationale that "bums" would buy $2 bottles, but not be able to "invest" in a $12 box, aka, six bottles of $2 cheap drunkenness.

(The Bad again)
This wine is horrible. Prison wine probably rivals it in quality. Think about it, this is the equivalent of a $2 bottle of wine. What would you expect? Give me a gallon of grape juice, a bag of sugar, an old trashcan, and a cool, dark place, and I could probably stumble upon their recipe after a few weeks.

Now there are some legitimate wines out there that have boxed varieties, but you won't find them for much less than $20, and they won't be in 5-liter bladders. The boxed wine concept is pretty smart. I mean, the wine is never exposed to oxygen like the case with conventional bottles. Therefore, you can "open" the wine and it would remain fresh for a long time.

My one suggestion is to know what you are getting into. If you pay $20 for 3 liters or so, you might be onto something. But if you pay $12 for 5 liters, you are probably just setting yourself up for a hangover.